1 of 27 Democracy Lecture from 02 11 2016 Democracy developed hand in hand with the nation state system also as nation state system expanded so did democracy I Post Cold War Predictions This is because you must be a state to be a part of the United Nation United Nations uses a democratic system each state gets a vote Scholars had a lot to say about what the post cold war period would look like Mearsheimer Huntington Fukuyama Mearsheimer thought that Europe would break into chaos with the multipolar system he predicted con ict Huntington believed in a clash of civilizations thought we would have con ict on a huge civilizational scale Fukuyama views history as an evolution of ideas on political governments history is searching for that perfect system of government which is based on ideas II Waves of Democracy III Fukuyama s End of History Roadblock to democracy leading up to WWI Number of democracies in the world dipped in the 1960s and 1970s Democracy continuously rising starting in the 1980s Fukuyama argued that this continuous increase is evidence that people around the world were realizing that democracy is the best form of governance End of History the end point of mankind s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the nal form of human government Liberal Democracy is the best form of governance for all of mankind so we have no further need to seek a better system of governance A Hegel German philosopher who did not look at the world in terms of materialism He focuses on ideas and spiritedness Analyzed what motivates mankind came up with three different things B Preeminence of Ideas 1 Innate desire for survival 2 Our ability to reason this aids our survival 3 Innate spiritedness that desires recognition leads us into competition A lot of things in our society are based on our desire for recognition Fukuyama takes Hegel s ideas and modernizes them Ideology is of prime importance Fukuyama believes that the political system question is settled because we have achieved equality in government Throughout time we were searching for the best political ideas for all of us ideas are crucial Fukuyama says that ideas come rst ideas lead up to everything else Fukuyama has a teleological view of history this means that history is a linear process History is not a system of random events Fukuyama sees events as linear they build off of one another C Teleological History D Liberal Democracy 2 of 27 We had feudalism imperialism etc but systems of dominance only work for people at the top everyone else is oppressed new ideas developed ourishing of political ideas in 1800s Marxism Anarchism Liberal Democracy Democracy is based on enlightenment ideals Saw the individual as the core of society Liberals believe that any form of government that doesn t have consent of the people is not a just or good government There have to be some rules and laws while living under a government BUT the government must respect our individual rights for it to be a democracy Third component is capitalism it goes hand in hand with democracy This is because capitalism allows everyone to participate offers opportunity Wealth generated from these capitalistic economic systems reinforces democracy Fascism discredited as result of WWII Nazi Germany holocaust etc no longer a challenge to liberal democracy Communism was still going strong in Soviet Unions Democracy won out in Cold War and there were no longer any other systems left to compete Fukuyama concludes that Democracy proves itself the best system because individuals have equality Fukuyama does not say that war will cease or that we will no longer process but he does say that as democracy continues to expand we should not see those large ideological con icts any more Weak democracies can fall away but this is result of warfare IV Another explanation fro Democracy Modernization Theory A Industrialization Industrial Revolution revolutionized the Western world and Democracy sprung out of that Modernization theorists believe that modernization transformed society and in the process destabilized the old political systems Industrial revolution gave us two new classes B Societies Transformed In Feudal Europe we had nobility and peasants nobody in between With Industrial Revolution we see the emergence of Bourgeoisie industrialists own means of production wealthy and powerful Proletariat workers mans the industry with labor Bourgeoisie puts pressure on political system to gain access to the privileges of the system Proletariat was exploited class but they become politicized and joined unions put pressure on government for rights used their numbers to make gov work for them If they were to strike it would shut down the industry quickly Also the emergence of Urbanization Education Civil Society 3 of 27 Urbanization occurred as people began to leave the farms and local villages behind to go into the cities to the industries where the jobs were Educated population is necessary to move the country forward Population in the cities expands helps develop national identity Concentrated the people so that they could put more pressure on the government Educated people began to think for themselves and developed ideas about how the government could serve them better Intelligentsia educated people college educated developing ideas think for themselves and know how to mobilize to put pressure on government Industrial revolution gives way to civil society which has a vested interest in keeping things as they are Modernization theorists think that democracy is the result of all of these different changes to voice your opinion you vote C Democracy Prevails D Critiques of Modernization Theory Democracy is increasing and Liberals believe that this is evidence of its strength Some very poor countries are democratic they were able to reach democracy without having all of the changes the western world had China on other hand is very wealthy and industrialized but they are not democratic There are strong democracies and weak democracies USA Strong Honduras Weak Wealthier countries could be more stable Honduras lack of wealth could lead to it not being as stable V Democratic Stability Theory 4 of 27 Democratic Peace Lecture from 02 16 2016 I Criticisms of Fukuyama Fukuyama believes that liberal democracy is the best form of political ideology Believes that democracy will continue to spread as people recognize it as the best form of political ideology Criticism
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